Loughnane to unveil Galway blueprint

AthAnRi

Irish Independent (Unison.ie) wrote:

GER LOUGHNANE will make a personal address to a meeting of the Galway Hurling Board tonight as he is formally unveiled as the county's new senior manager.

Loughnane has made it clear that he wants to be present at the meeting to address delegates and present them with a blueprint for the future under his regime. He explained last night why he felt it was important to go tonight and outline his plans for approval.

Respect

"It is a very big step for Galway to appoint someone from outside the county and out of respect for that I feel I should be there," he said.

The former Galway forward Brendan Lynskey will act as selector, while Seán Treacy is understood to be part of the new management set-up. Treacy was involved with Portumna as they clinched the All-Ireland club title this year. Loughnane says his decision to return to inter-county management again after six years was an "easy one."

"I've been six years a pundit. Life goes in phases. I had a phase as a player, then I had a phase as a manager of my own county. I went into analysis for a few years and now I'm back into management. It is time."

Loughnane cautioned that it wasn't yet a fait accompli until the Galway delegates gave him a seal of approval tonight. But no last-minute hitches are expected as the most charismatic management figure of his era gets ready to patrol the sidelines again.

In returning to management, Loughnane is going against his long-held conviction that he shouldn't go back, a conviction he has repeated in recent years after an approach by Limerick. In his autobiography 'Raising the Banner', Loughnane articulated why he felt at the time that he shouldn't return.

"Well the first thing I should do is purchase a gun and leave it to my wife at home. Because if I ever insinuate that I'm returning to management then I will tell her to have me shot straight away. It's something you should do once and once only," he wrote. "I know that the possibility is there for me (to manage again). The way I train a team and approach it, you give so much of yourself that after a while you just wear yourself out. Motivation goes and when it goes I don't get it back," he added.

Stranglehold

Loughnane foresees Galway as "a massive challenge" and his arrival back into management comes at a time when Kilkenny and Cork have taken a firmer-than-usual stranglehold on the hurling championship.

The Galway squad he takes over are arguably best placed to smash the traditional hegemony but Loughnane will be mindful not to invest too much faith in underage achievements.

Meanwhile, in Loughnane's native county Clare, there is still no sign of white smoke as they search for a replacement for Anthony Daly.

Mike McNamara and Alan Cunningham, a selector to Daly, were among the frontrunners but the feeling is that they may go outside the county. Cyril Farrell had discussions but is not taking it.

Colm Keys]

Can't wait for the new hurling season to start now. Finally an outside manager and what a manager to get, even if he is a clare man.

FatherTed

I hope he can motivate the talent Galway has to reach new heights. And actually win an All-Ireland. 9 final losses in 12 finals in 1975. I hope Treacy will be part of the management team, he has done a great job with Portumna.

Kojak

FatherTed wrote:

I hope he can motivate the talent Galway has to reach new heights. And actually win an All-Ireland. 9 final losses in 12 finals in 1975. I hope Treacy will be part of the management team, he has done a great job with Portumna.

The key with Loughnane is that he won't have any allegiences (i.e. ties) to certain clubs/players, in other words politics - the thing that has bedevilled our county for too long. Even in this election process, if you want to call it that, they was more politics than happens in a year at Dáil Éireann.

It is unfortunate that Keady cannot join as I would rate him a better selector than Lynskey. If Loughnane calls up Treacy then I believe he will have the strongest managerial team available to him. Treacy would have been my 2nd choice behind Loughnane - not Cooney and Silke.

Interesting times ahead for Galway hurling but I would say that we cannot loose the run of ourselves and think that Loughnane will deliver us an All-Ireland next year. He has been away from management for 6 years and hurling has changed an awful lot since then - he will need a year to learn all the new tricks that have been developed since he stopped managing. Also, IMO, he will have to "clean house" with the current set of players as I believe that they have failed for too long to expect to be left there - I won't name names but I honestly believe that there are at least 4 or 5 "hangers-on" on the team and until Loughnane clears them out and gets good replacements, we cannot expect him to bring us to All-Ireland glory.

I don't know why you have a problem with an outsider, AnAnRí - sure did't ye have a Mayo man helping your Senior team when they were winning club All-Irelands for fun.

AthAnRi

Kojak wrote:

The key with Loughnane is that he won't have any allegiences (i.e. ties) to certain clubs/players, in other words politics - the thing that has bedevilled our county for too long. Even in this election process, if you want to call it that, they was more politics than happens in a year at Dáil Éireann.

It is unfortunate that Keady cannot join as I would rate him a better selector than Lynskey. If Loughnane calls up Treacy then I believe he will have the strongest managerial team available to him. Treacy would have been my 2nd choice behind Loughnane - not Cooney and Silke.

Interesting times ahead for Galway hurling but I would say that we cannot loose the run of ourselves and think that Loughnane will deliver us an All-Ireland next year. He has been away from management for 6 years and hurling has changed an awful lot since then - he will need a year to learn all the new tricks that have been developed since he stopped managing. Also, IMO, he will have to "clean house" with the current set of players as I believe that they have failed for too long to expect to be left there - I won't name names but I honestly believe that there are at least 4 or 5 "hangers-on" on the team and until Loughnane clears them out and gets good replacements, we cannot expect him to bring us to All-Ireland glory.

I don't know why you have a problem with an outsider, AnAnRí - sure did't ye have a Mayo man helping your Senior team when they were winning club All-Irelands for fun.

That's proabably why I am delighted and do not have any problem with it what so ever. Hence the comment "Finally an outside manager". I've wanted this for about 10 years now.

padi89

Great stuff.Loughnane is needed , a strong headed person that makes his own decisions.Looking forward to next year already , not expecting miricles but certainly someone that will unleash the talent thats here.

kevmy

As a semi-neutral (a Mayoman who supports the Galway hurlers) I think this is just the kind of appointment that Galway need. He'll get rid of some of the talented but lazy players and bring in some less talented lads who'd die for Galway. Thats always been one of the probs with Galway IMO if you had good talent you got in the team and stayed there even if you done feck all work.
This will annoy some Galway people as their club player has been dropped but I hope Loghnane is given time - 3yrs anyway - to try and turn things around. IMO Galway are probably the third most talented team in the country behind Cork and Kilkenny and shouldn't be shipping big beatings to either of them even on a bad day and Galway are much more taleted thjan Clare were in the early ninetys when Ger took over there. If Ger can put a bit of steel along side this skill Galway should win an AI in 3 yrs

Kojak

kevmy wrote:

As a semi-neutral (a Mayoman who supports the Galway hurlers) I think this is just the kind of appointment that Galway need. He'll get rid of some of the talented but lazy players and bring in some less talented lads who'd die for Galway. Thats always been one of the probs with Galway IMO if you had good talent you got in the team and stayed there even if you done feck all work.
This will annoy some Galway people as their club player has been dropped but I hope Loghnane is given time - 3yrs anyway - to try and turn things around. IMO Galway are probably the third most talented team in the country behind Cork and Kilkenny and shouldn't be shipping big beatings to either of them even on a bad day and Galway are much more taleted thjan Clare were in the early ninetys when Ger took over there. If Ger can put a bit of steel along side this skill Galway should win an AI in 3 yrs

I think the people who would get annoyed because Loughnane drops a player from their clubs are not true supporters at all, IMO. If they are not good enough then they shouldn't be there in the first place. If its an argument/disagreement like Cloonan with Hayes last year, well that's a different thing entirely.

He (Loughnane) says today that he wants to win the All-Ireland within the next 2 years (maybe even next year). For Galway supporters you will know how demanding the position of manager is. Even though we haven't won an All-Ireland in nearly 20 years, the Liam McCarthy is the only thing that will do given the amount of under-age titles we have ammased. I hope Loughnane hasn't already put too much pressure on himself and his backroom team. Good to see Seán Treacy involved as assistant manager - as I have already mentioned he was my "second choice". No mention of Mulqueen yet, although I won't be surprised to see him there next year.

I have to commend John Fahy (County Secretary). While I may not agree with the idea of no hurling during the Summer, I have to give him credit to see past the antiquated notion of "Galway hurling needs a Galway manager" - the best man should be given the job, no matter where he is from.